Interior rust spots to check

[khughes]

Hi Guys,

As some of you know, i have had my car sandblasted a while ago.. The sandblasting removed 99.9% of paint, however left all of the interior body sealant intact.

I have to say the overall condition of the car is pretty good bar what i would call the usual rust problems, however I spent most of yesterday scraping the factory sealant out of the panel joins in the cabin, i am glad i did, The biggest issue was in the front corner of front footwells where the sill meets the firewall and A piller kick panel area.. Once i pulled the sealant out, it showed that there is a direct gap right into the wheel well.. i can't remember there being sealant on the outside so i assume water has been getting in the gap (maybe 1mil) and then soaking along the inside of the sealant/metal join

Some other areas of note:

• There was some rust forming around the air inlets into the cabin from the front windscreen valance, i have seen it much worse here on my other cars though
  
• Rust hole around the size of a 20c piece on the drivers firewall, looks like the end of the frame rail in the engine bay.
  
• I also found a bit of rust in the cabin along the bottom of the rear wheel well (especially at the corner of the rear quarter\rear window section)) - i can't find an external reason why it was rusting under the sealant here, but it was on the left side only.. so i presume it may have had a leak in the rear window, and dripping down the parcel tray, then down to the floor ending up here.
  
• Previous cars have been also bad across the middle of the firewall where the heater box sits (i assume from a leak in the heater box), but this car is pretty good.
  

I havn't started stripping the boot's sealant yet.. kind of dreading what i may find there!

I have epoxied the bottom of the car twice now, then sprayed some 3M waterbased Stone Guard. I realized yesterday that i missed the step of seam sealing.. i am going to cover the inside with Rust bullet (along any frame rails\inside sections i can), seam seal the inside, then cover in epoxy and opt. a coat of stone guard.. externally i will probably seam seal every spot i can find, followed by 2 coats of epoxy along the seams and then the stone guard.. not ideal, but hopefully enough to stop water accessing it on both sides! I am avoiding any areas i know need bodywork until i can get that sorted out (i am trying to get the insides done, and enough of the understide done to get the drivetrain back on and it off the

Frame Rail wise, i am planning to spray rust bullet in, then probably a coat of stone guard and then once the car is fully painted some Dynax S50 wax as the last line of defense.

I am not 100% sure what areas i should be leaving unsealed, i hope some common sense prevails

I will grab some photos of the rust spots i am talking about next weekend and post them up. but these areas are worth some thought.

PS. i refuse to use POR15 on the car now, after a previous major failure on easily accessible panels (prepared correctly), no chance i would risk using it in areas i can't get to! i sure hope rust bullet is better!

Edited April 21, 2013 by khughes

[tez240k]

i think its a necessity on these cars! im also rust treating, rust kill enamel, sealing AND stone guarding under the car too. just seems the only way to prevent this jap tin from rusting :/

[Guest Flauski]

You might want to strip the factory sealer on this join too;

The three coupes I have seen in this spot have all had rust. This is a picture of my current one (best condition one) and it still warranted stripping this sealer and grinding/rust killing.

This car had minimal rust, with none in firewall.

Edited April 22, 2013 by Flauski

[uras1]

problem is metal treatment prior to epoxy, if this isn't done correctly is doesn't matter how much epoxy, stone guard or kill rust is on.

I also wouldn't be leaving epoxy then stone guard either. Not sure what brand your using as some vary. My process is epoxy, prime, paint then stock guard.

[khughes]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]62802[/ATTACH]

Yep, pulled all the sealer there too, mine was actually very good in those areas, i would hate to see where the water got in to soak that seal up, what is the inside of that panel like? that yellow glue stuff is a total PITA to scrape (chip) off!

Uras, that decision keeps me up at night!, The bottom of my car was really good and had been sandblasted and coated in some form of flash rust preventer. I lightly sanded that, then sprayed 2 coats of dupont 840R epoxy, then i have coated it in 2-3 coats of white 3M stone guard.. I chose this as it is paintable (and white), so plan to do 2-pac colour (dupont probably) and clear over that (will just take a little while).. that is just the underside.. topside, i am leaving to the pro's (with the rest of the body work)

i am willing to give Rust bullet a chance on the inside where it is unlikely to really matter.

Edited April 22, 2013 by khughes

[240k Style]

Love the jig

[Adzmax]

Good to see my old rotisserie is getting good use! Might have to buy it back when you're done

[khughes]

it certainly is going strong! i almost sold it to the sandblaster in part exchange, but glad that i didn't!

I am in two minds to keep it after i am done incase (when) i decide to strip down the 240Z.. am i that foolish

[Adzmax]

Haha nice. Yeah not sure that I'll need one anyhow. I plan to build another jig just to move the shell and let the blaster/repairer deal with the chassis moving

On a side note mine has some rust in the same places, inside of 1/4 seals as did my other shell.

[khughes]

spent the Mothers Day weekend doing the RustBullet and Epoxy top coat.. finally got the pics up onto my website Interior painting - Project 240K

came out quite well i think

[uras1]

how much is this rust bullet stuff?

[khughes]

about $95 a quart (935ml?) + $25 delivery

a little more than POR.. but much less when you factor in the cost of POR's metal prep and metal ready stuff too